Thursday, 5 June 2014

Broken Glass - GRADS (5 June 2014)

1938 and the infamous Kristallnacht takes the harassment of
Jews in Nazi Germany to new levels as a precursor of the horror to come. In
Brooklyn, a Jewish woman - Sylvia Gellburg (Maree Grayden) - obsessed by the
newspaper reports of the persecution suddenly finds herself unable to walk.
Baffled by this, her husband Phillip (Geoff Miethe) engages the services of
Doctor Hyman (Neil Cartmell) who becomes personally invested in finding the
cause.

The great Arthur Miller, Nazis, American Jews and what was
billed as a mystery has me intrigued. What I quickly come to realise is that
this play is essentially two things: a kitchen sink, husband-wife melodrama;
and an exploration of what it means to be Jewish. I have no personal context
for the latter which infuses the play especially in the second act and
therefore I felt emotionally distant from its characters and message. The ‘mystery’
of the marital breakdown is related to this over-arching theme and allusions to
events in Germany are none too subtle thematic buttresses.

However, I was interested in how the play was constructed,
predominantly as a series of two-handers with only two, maybe three moments I
recall with more than two people in a scene - Husband and Doctor,
Doctor and Wife, Husband and Wife, Doctor’s Wife and Husband, Wife and Sister
and so on. This means it’s quite a static play and very dialogue heavy.

The set is beautifully appointed – stage left is the
doctor’s office; centre stage is the Gellburg’s bedroom; stage right is the
office of Stanton Case (Phillip Mackenzie) who Phillip works for. Cellist
Sophie Parkinson-Stewart is situated back of stage behind a transparent screen and
adds texture and tone with music composed by Grant Olding.

Cartmell is good as Doctor Hyman but in many ways his
character is essentially a device – his occupation allows him to constantly ask
questions of both husband and wife to probe and reveal the true state of the
Gellburg marriage. In this respect many of the questions are oddly personal. There is an attraction manufactured between his character and Sylvia
that allows him to (almost) get away with this. Grayden gives a strong
performance as the neglected wife though the latter stages do verge into heavy
melodrama as confessions are made and declarations intoned.

Georgia Jones as Mrs. Hyman adds much needed sassiness and
Sally Barendse has a couple of lovely moments as Sylvia’s sister, Harriet.
These two characters add life to what otherwise is pretty earnest material. Mackenzie
has three scenes as the wealthy businessman who gets cheated out of a property
deal due to Phillip’s misunderstanding of events. Miethe, however, did not have
the best of nights as the main character, struggling with his dialogue
throughout. Hopefully this is only opening night nerves as it affected key
scenes, his characterisation, and created a few awkward moments.

I found the play difficult to embrace as it has a very
specific message in mind which I can intellectually understand but have no
emotional connection to. It is, however, an Arthur Miller play so there are some
nicely written exchanges and the cello music does add another layer.

Directed by Barry Park, Broken Glass is on at the Stirling
Theatre in Innaloo until 14 June.